Moon Cat
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That American indie 'voice'...
Jul 13, 2010, 13:36
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Is it me, or does it seem mandatory for just about every current 'hip' (gwag!) American indie type band to be fronted by someone singing in a variant on the nasally, ubergeek, whiny, boo-hoo I've just wet meself voice?
I'm not totally against it; sometimes it works. But there just seems to be so much of it about which is odd when you think the range of music would be backdrop for a bit more variation.
I mean, at Glastonbury, I was meeting up with someone in Emily's Field and there was a band on - I think they were called Avi Buffalo or something - and they were resoundingly ok-ish, but the singer, fuckin' hell, he sounded like he's had his dinner money taken off him every day for the last 20 years!!! AGH!
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Kilgore Trout
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Re: That American indie 'voice'...
Jul 13, 2010, 13:55
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In some ways it might have started with Wayne Coyne out of the Flaming Lips (who i'll defend to the hilt). As much as i love them, the guy can't REALLY sing. Maybe that's why i find it less irritating with him, whilst some of the others have adopted the nasal whine merely as an affectation. The guy out of Apples In Stereo springs to mind. Oh, and late-period Jonathan Donahue out of Mercury Rev (although his stage presence makes him seem a bit cloying and creepy in the first place!).
A classic example i'm struggling with at the moment is Jim Guthrie's 'Now More Than Ever'. Musically, it's quite wonderful, subtly orchestrated chamber folk(?) with great melodies. However, a lot of the time i just can't quite get past the self-consciously twee vocals. It's getting in the way of some otherwise lovely songs - and it's not even that extreme an example of what you're talking about.
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zphage
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Re: That American indie 'voice'...
Jul 13, 2010, 13:56
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I don't see it as particular to any nationality,
but as common amongst all groups since 95 onward
bad singing is endemic to modern music
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Moon Cat
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Re: That American indie 'voice'...
Jul 13, 2010, 13:57
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Pavement, whom I like a lot, probably have a lot answer for in this area too.
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Andfurthermoreagain
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Re: That American indie 'voice'...
Jul 13, 2010, 13:57
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I suppose its a similar thing to the British indie equivalent - that kind of post Arctic Monkeys 6th form schoolboy jibbering, the whole "i saw that burd i fancied but she went of wiv a bigger boy and I'm reet upset, had to walk 'ome past all t'nasty looking blokes in tracksuits........." trip. Yawn!
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Moon Cat
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Re: That American indie 'voice'...
Jul 13, 2010, 13:58
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yeah, but the bad singing Brit indie mob seem to go less for the nasal whine and more for just leaden barking.
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Andfurthermoreagain
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Re: That American indie 'voice'...
Jul 13, 2010, 13:59
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Yeah, I blame the Strokes too. So much to answer for that band - with his terrible, TERRIBLE weak whiney voice (overdistorted through some studio effect to try to make him sound like Iggy Pop). And they still get classed as a 'punk' group. Brings to mind a famous quote from William Burroghs!
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embryonomore
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Re: That American indie 'voice'...
Jul 13, 2010, 14:01
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"Oh shit, I just shot my wife!"
?
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Toni Torino
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Re: That American indie 'voice'...
Jul 13, 2010, 14:05
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Like Billy Corgan?
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zphage
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Re: That American indie 'voice'...
Jul 13, 2010, 14:08
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Britpop was kinda built on the "whiney limey" sound
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